15 May 2009: Cruzan Amphitheatre, West Palm Beach, FL, USA
From WikiColdplay
Contents |
Setlist
- Life In Technicolor
- Violet Hill
- Clocks
- In My Place
- Yellow
- Glass Of Water
- Cemeteries Of London
- 42
- Fix You
- Strawberry Swing
- God Put A Smile Upon Your Face (Partial Techno Remix)
- Talk (Partial Techno Remix)
- The Hardest Part (Chris Solo Piano)
- Postcards From Far Away (Chris Solo Piano)
- Viva La Vida
- Lost!
- Green Eyes (acoustic)
- Death Will Never Conquer (Acoustic, sung by Will)
- I'm A Believer (Neil Diamond Cover - Acoustic)
- Viva La Vida (Remix Interlude)
- Politik
- Lovers In Japan
- Death And All His Friends
Encore - The Scientist
- Life In Technicolor ii
- The Escapist (Outro)
Photos
Photos from this show can be found at Coldplaying.com in the Gallery thread for West Palm Beach. http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/1746
Videos
Videos from this show can be found in the first post of the Coldplaying forum live thread for this show at http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55520
Discussion
All post-show discussion for this show at the forum thread: http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55520
Fan Reviews
All fan reviews have been submitted to us by the members of Coldplaying.com[1], unless stated otherwise.
just got back from the amphitheater and the show was fantastic. the audience was absolutely awful in the first 30 rows which was sad and disappointing, the crowd on the grass and in the back was SPECTACULAR but they were wasted and the GA seats, it was a phenomenal concert so anyone that gave it bad reviews had to have prejudged the boys prior to tonight. yes butterfly confetti and yellow balloons peppered the stage but them going out onto the law to play and stripping down that 2 song set was brilliant..Chris even went into detail as to why they did it and how it came about with a conversation with their manager..... The boys played from three different stages- the main, then a smaller piano based mini stage on stage left and then way back in the crowd on the lawn on a mini stage where the drummer sang a song and the boys performed a classic by the MONKEES...yes the MONKEES. the lighting, set design and overall show is very stripped down and really focuses on the music-- CHRIS was brilliant and peppered in a ton of local comments and made everyone feel like he was really happy to be in WPB... GET YOUR TIX NOW- the show is worth every penny. EVERY SONG ON THE NEW LIVE ALBUM WAS PLAYED, YELLOW WAS BRILLIANT- with a ton of confetti filled YELLOW BALLONS flying everywhere. Chris even popped one with his guitar and confetti went everwhere. EVEN THOUGH THE FRONT OF THE CROWD WAS LAME with as much emphasis on LAME as humanly possible. Chris was insane tonight-- he was sweating like a hooker in church- granted it was 80 and humid as hell tonight but he and the boys definitely brought their A game.... I've been to 100s of shows and tonight was in the top 10-15 of all time and I base that solely on the performance, musical quality, vocal quality, and enthusiasm for giving a great performance. I DID GET THE CD BUT THEY WERE SCARE AND HARD TO FIND- I ACTUALLY LEFT PISSED THAT I DIDNT GET ONE AND WAS TALKING ABOUT IT AND A WOMAN HANDED ME HERS- SAID SHE GOT 4 AND HAD AN EXTRA.
at Tonight's venue they didn't have CD's at every entrance-- when I first arrived I thought I could get them every and any where-- I WAS WRONG- as I left I purposely went out of a different area to get the CD and still didn't get one-- 50-70% of people didn't even know they were giving out the 9 song disc... luckily i met that one nice lady and she gave me one of her 4 copies-- I already had the songs anyway but its a nice keepsake to have..... hopefully all of the areas of the shows and entrances and exits have them at the next show but not tonight
[paynegod]
(Holy stinking crap, it is 6 in the morning. I drove 2.5 hours to get home, was intially super tired, but now I'm in reflection mode...)
South Florida at the start of the summer is hot. And humid too. So there's no doubt that you're going to sweat, but even with the most uncomfortable of heats (hot, sunny and humid) tonight's Coldplay gig was amazing. The set seemed longer and there were songs Florida didn't get to hear live during last year's tour.
Maybe it's because it's the first date of a tour, and they're fresh and energized because the tour isn't a routine yet. Maybe it's because they love Florida. But they were all so giddy, especially Chris! The "Violet Hill" ending got a Florida twist from Chris, who actually sung: "...If you're attending the first night of the last leg of the VLV tour in Florida...and if you're prepared to have an extremely good night on that Friday evening in Florida...and if you wanna make a loud nooooise... won't you let me know."
That got the crowd going right away, although I did notice the front was a little inactive. This venue had some seats near the front (slightly before the pit) that were actually bar tables, complete with a wait staff. I thought this was a rock show, not a night at the jazz club? That crowd was kind of boring, and I wish they'd been more excited. Same with some people around me. During "42" Chris was playing dead/pyscho eyes while on the piano, and I wondered if that was a shout-out to the posh crowd who were too cool to sing or move. He did it for a while though, and it was the most quirkiest I've ever seen him, doing those crazy eyes like he had just seen a ghost or something.
In section 6, a few of us were very excited, even if some people behind were sitting, talking or texting. Our singing just drowned it out I did notice that the aisle near section 6 turned into a mini-nightclub during the "God Put a Smile.."/"Talk" mix from the second stage. People not only wanted to see the band, but lots of them just started breaking it down because the music was so good. Jonny's whammy bar action is the best thing about that mix. I could write a thesis about how awesome that effect is!
As he began "Postcards..," Chris messed up, and he didn't let it go. He said something along the lines of "Hold on, let's try that again. You can a get a 50 cent refund off your ticket." He started over and played it perfectly. His face looks so focused when he plays this, even with the sweat dripping off of it every few seconds.
During the show, Chris talked a lot. It's what he does. Some of what he said:
-He's not liking his hairstyle at the moment: "What looks good at your house on a Thursday, doesn't look so good on a Friday in West Palm Beach."
-He wanted the West Palm crowd to audition for next's year's American Idol, and maybe do a better job than Susan Boyle (whose name he actually couldn't remember, so just laughed out loud)
-Also, if you showed up hoping to see TheBeeGees, you're out of luck. "That's tomorrow, and you have the wrong night, and you're gonna be dissapointed. It's only my job to warn you. If you came to see Coldplay, you're in the right place." Then they kicked into "Yellow," with the big balloons and all.
For the third stage, the band made its way to the lawn, which was ten times better than the move to the high seats during last year's tour. It was just so much more grander here. They said no act has ever gone and played up there. Lots of people in section 6 stood up on their chairs to see the set, and a lady next to me was in tears when she saw the band go up there. It was like she couldn't believe such a big band would even bother going up there. I was like ,"Oh yes ma'am, they love EVERYONE."
While at the lawn, Chris started a "Mexican" cell-phone wave (I think that's what he called it). He told everyone in the venue to do the wave with their cell phones. He made us do it about three times ("Well that was shit, we gotta do that again"). Chris said the Mexican cell-phone wave had never been attempted before, unless Joe Satriani had already done it!! Sense of humor: intact and perfect. The lawn set had "Green Eyes," too, the first time I've heard it live! The band also covered "I'm a Believer" during the lawn set, and Chris went on a super love-fest. Normally, after "am I in love," the lyric is "ooooh, I'm a believer," but Chris stopped it several times to ask "Are you in love:" -Will, strange (?) looking, but nevertheless drummer of Coldplay? -Guy, the one who sells all our posters? -Johnny, who would never sing in front of anyone much less 16,000 people? -Really good looking people in front of us? And all the way where the Viva ballon is?
Toward the end, "Politik" had a lyric change to get the crowd going crazy. "Give me heart and give me soul...Give me love give us a kiss, give me a great, big Floridian scream just like this...open up your eyes.." After the show officially ended, people made a dash for the new album. This probably got way more dangerous than it should have, bless those volunteers who had to endure crazy people fighting for CD's. If you want one, just be gentle, don't bumrush the person with the box full of CD's
This was my fourth time seeing Coldplay, and I've said this before about my other times- but it was my favorite. I don't know, though. I also volunteered for Oxfam tonight, and it was beyond fun to do that too. All I can think about is how great tonight was, and how August's closing show needs to be here right now. I loved it all. I hope all the fans who go this tour are just as amazed.
[JustSpies84]
wooooo I got back from the concert like 3 hours ago! It was AMAZING!!! I was right in front of the C stage and oh man I saw them like SOOOOOO CLOSE! and the C stage was super small so it was like intimate! not like the main stage! SOOOO AMAZING!! My videos arent super long (memory) but I'm uploading them soon along with the few (but great) pics I got
[LaurainTechnicolor]
Coldplay has done an incredible job in many of their concerts, and to open the tour in West Palm Beach with so much energy and ecstaticism, was a memory that all of us will never forget.
I arrived at the venue at 5:30pm, the queue was long and I though to myself to I won't be able to get into the pit and get a good view. Apparently to my surprise, the doors opened at 6:30pm, and I immediately ran to the pit to the get the best spot possible. I was correct! The pit was excellent, very small, and only held 200 people. I was straight up front of the stage by Guy's side, and I just had a feeling of passing out... But luckily I didn't.
Howling Bells started around 7:30pm, they were an incredible band, with beautiful melodies and rhythm. Then Pete Yorn came up, and it was the second big beat! They had an amazing personnel and crew, and the music was great.
Around 8:30, Pete Yorn finished, and the crew were getting everything ready in the stage for the boys! Many songs were played while they were doing that (Including Magnificent by U2). Everything was ready for the boys at 9:15, and they started at 9:30pm with Life In Technicolor. Although there were some rumors that the setlist was going to change, it did not. They didn't even play Speed Of Sound or any other old famous and beautiful songs. (The setlist was posted by me on pages 86-87 in this thread).
Although, I had a little bit of dissapointment in the setlist, I still enjoyed the show very much by being so close to the stage! I took awesome pics and recorded many good videos. The highlights were Chris Martin talking about American Idol & Susan Boyle, always joking around with Satriani, the B-Stage songs (God Put A Smile, Talk (Both remixed), The Hardest Part, and Postcards From Far Away).
They had an amazing energy during Viva La Vida, and Lost! - After that they went all the way back to the lawn to C-Stage and played Green Eyes, Death Will Never Conquer Me, & I Am A Believer (Beatles Cover).
I had made a sign for them to play Moses! Guy was the first one that saw it, and he laughed not saying or doing anything. Then Chris saw it, he was surprised and winked at me and my partner! Then finally Jonny saw it during the encore, he read it and smiled at me so sweetly!!!! He just shrugged, lift up his hands, and said something that apparently by reading his lips was: "We Couldn't"
So sad that they didn't play Moses! I hope you all guys get changes in the setlist as well as some other good stuff thrown in. Overall, it was a great show with intense energy from Chris (He has now long hair), and Jonny's smile and shoulder shrugging was unforgettable.
[dfit00]
Media Reviews
Coldplay sweetly sets off tour in West Palm Beach
Perhaps the most lovely thing about Coldplay’s gloriously cordial “Viva La Vida” tour opener at West Palm Beach’s Cruzan Amphitheatre — and there were many — is that the band knows exactly what they are, and aren’t.
Chris Martin and company seem to have accepted that they are not edgy or dangerous, but pretty much nicely square guys from London who love straight-ahead, pretty pop songs like “Yellow” and ”Viva La Vida” with a dash of unabashedly big, anthemic songs with sweeping choruses. Their cute lead singer is married to a movie star, who happened to be sitting calmly right in the middle of the arena, and rather than make Martin seem cooler than you, the result is to make him seem like the luckiest of the nice guys.
Coldplay don’t want to confuse or anger their fans, but hug them. And if they can’t do that personally, they’ll drop swirling currents of bright paper butterflies on them and set up a stage near the lawn so the hoi polloi in the cheap seats can have a nice time.
The result is a fully-realized, feel-good show where the band’s confidence in their sound and comfort in their goofily ordinary skin allows them to take that straight-ahead, sentimental pop and send it somewhere soaring.
“At this point in the show, I feel it’s only fair to ask — Is everyone doing OK? Is everyone having a good time?” Martin asked, well into the show, as Coldplay had taken the first of two trips to side stages located in the audience. And unlike a lot of singers whose “Is everyone having a good time?” patter seems scripted in along with song introductions and what city they’re in, Martin and his Synchronicity-meets-Sgt. Pepper outfit seems to really mean it.
The politely prompt show, which began right at its announced 7:30 start time with the vaguely ’60s swirl of Australian group Howling Bells, continued on its positive road with Pete Yorn, who spun gorgeously moody tunes like “Life On A Chain,” with the good will of the sweetly mopey. Highlight included an acoustic cover of New Order’s electronic masterpiece “Bizarre Love Triangle,” which Yorn made seem, effortlessly, like it was written for a quiet guitar.
Coldplay’s set, alternately, started anything but quietly, with a sheer black sheet of fabric hung over the bare stage suddenly backlit with four swirling lights, each held by a band member. The sheet dropped dramatically to the sound of ”Life In Technicolor,” and proof that Coldplay is pretty much all the special effect that Coldplay needs,
The show was a blend of the familiar (”This song is as old as some new hills,” Martin said of the sing-along favorite “Yellow” and its torrent of yellow balloons bouncing through the crowd), the new (”Violet Hill,” the quirky “Lovers In Japan” and “Death And All His Friends”) and the really, really familiar (a bouncy cover of The Monkees’ “I’m A Believer,” in which Martin had each member of the band respond to a musical question (”Will Champion, very scary looking but very gentle drummer of Coldplay — Are you in love?”).
The effect was just perfect, from Champion’s rat-a-blat Beatles/Wonders pounding to the unending good will from the crowd. They really did win them over by moving part of the show near the lawn patrons, who Martin started flirting with from the time he dedicated shameless weeper “Fix You” to them — “And high above or down below/Two miles from the band at the Coldplay show,” he sang.
The show wasn’t as grand as the band’s last appearance at Cruzan, but more comfortable. Coldplay isn’t trying to impress you with how smart they are - they just love music and the trippy, unimaginable ride it takes you on, and they want to take you, too. Game, set, lovely, lovely match.
Bands, like politicians, need to get re-elected every so often. Take Coldplay, who staged a campaign stop of sorts for 16,000 people on Friday night at Cruzan Amphitheatre, west of West Palm Beach. There were remarks, confetti, balloons and presents: The band sent attendees home with a free concert CD. Likewise, the appearance of singer Chris Martin's wife, actress Gwyneth Paltrow, could have come from a political playbook. Paltrow made an entrance befitting a popular first lady, taking a seat up close to watch the concert alongside everyone else.
This was Coldplay's second South Florida stop in six months, and "the first night of the last leg of the 'Viva la Vida' tour," as Martin described the itinerary. The show and the set list haven't changed much between visits, but the tone on Friday was noticeably different -- more directed.
In November, while a rock star of politics was claiming the White House, Coldplay just came to entertain. This time, with the Grammy-winning British quartet starting the wind-down toward (presumably) a break, the concert felt like an effort to hang on to votes. Coldplay wants to remain in fans' hearts and minds until the next album and tour. In this swing state, where Martin himself announced the attendance figure of 16,000, they've probably succeeded. The concert was an effective pitch for the crowd's favor, with occasionally stellar music. Coldplay played anthemic rockers with easy-to-remember slogans: "Open up your eyes" (from "Politik," natch) and "If you never try you'll never know" (from the ballad "Fix You"). Repetition being a favorite tool of political message-shapers, Coldplay seemed determined to keep changes in tempo and mood to a pleasant minimum. Songs from the band's four studio albums ran together like paragraphs in a well-polished stump speech.
There were beautiful exceptions. Coldplay's best song, still, "Clocks" rose above the rest with its shifting triads, thrumming bass lines and Martin's plangent melody stretched across the chords. "Viva la Vida," an orchestral tale of glory and ruin ("Sweep the streets I used to own"), got a rousing assist from the crowd. Martin sang it without a trace of rancor, considering all the recent claims on its authorship. The band tossed in an oldie, the Monkees' I'm a Believer. It was a telling choice of covers. When Coldplay broke through in 2000, they made sense in the company of a couple of other U.K. bands -- Doves and Muse -- that occupied sonic space between U2's royal empathy and Radiohead's melancholy squall.
As they've gained in renown, they've gone backwards in time. Coldplay's songwriting has taken on the very British wistfulness one hears in stand-bys such as Paul McCartney's "Penny Lane" and Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill." It wouldn't be the first campaign based on appeals to a kinder, gentler past.
It's no small accomplishment to make a sea of 16,000 people feel like an intimate audience in a small club, but that's what Chris Martin and Coldplay did at West Palm Beach's Cruzan Amphitheatre on Friday night.
Joking, charming, and leading blissful singalongs, Martin and company made the opening night of their U.S. tour into a celebration of the feel-good power of pop music. The sentimental peak came when the group ventured into the middle of the crowd to lead them in an acoustic version of The Monkees' I'm a Believer, teasing at and enjoying the song's innocent "I'm in love, ooooohhhh, I'm a believer" enthusiasm. "People in the back are you in love?" Martin asked, and got a ringing affirmation.
Given that the British rock group just finished another U.S. tour, also in support of their hit 2008 album Viva La Vida, last November, with a stop in Sunrise that same month, the size and enthusiasm of Friday night's crowd was an impressive demonstration of Coldplay's popularity.
Their music is often somber on record. Live, however, even regretful, elegiac songs like The Scientist, or the plaintive ballad Fix You (which inspired Martin's wife, actor Gwyneth Paltrow, who was in the audience, to press her hand to her heart) became fervent and soaring. Drummer Will Champion supplies a solid, thundering foundation for guitarist Jon Buckland and bassist Guy Berryman ringing, churning guitar lines, lusher and more powerful than on record. Martin's famous falsetto rises through the storm, quiet or wailing, naturally and movingly expressive. "For you, I'd bleed myself dry," he sang on Yellow, the beautiful breakout ballad from Coldplay's first album, as big yellow balloons floated through the crowd, and you believed him.
Martin is a natural showman, alternating classic writhing rock star leaps, stage striding, and firey piano playing with an old school, theatrical British humor and calculated but still charming humility. He thank the audience frequently and profusely, asked them if they were having a good time ("If you came to see the Bee Gees, that's tomorrow, and you'll be disappointed"), and joked about how good looking they were. "We'd be honored if you'd sing this with us," Martin said during Clocks, one of Coldplay's best loved older songs. The crowd didn't have to be asked twice.
The production was beautifully designed, not just for effect, but to heighten the feeling of the music -- with some sly cultural jokes. The soaring strains of Strauss' Blue Danube Waltz (producing some interesting variations on your classic concert wave) led into the opening Life in Technicolor, with a giant backdrop of Eugene Delacroix's famous painting Liberty Leading the People (an emblem of Coldplay leading the masses to aesthetic liberation? A topless woman heading up a really good time?) as the band came onstage carrying torches. Projections swirled over giant globes whirling overhead, and the video on two large screens pulsed in rhythm or flickered in black and white with the songs. For the glowing Lovers in Japan, close to the end, the standard confetti guns instead blasted paper butterflies, a simple change that added a magical feeling to the song.
